Ruling could lower bills for Mass. electricity customers

[unhappycamper]

http://www.enterprisenews.com/article/20160325/NEWS/160326718/0/breaking_ajax

Ruling could lower bills for Mass. electricity customers
By Patriot Ledger staff
Posted Mar. 25, 2016 at 6:22 PM
Updated Mar 25, 2016 at 6:23 PM

Massachusetts residents could see a big break on their electric bills thanks to a ruling by a federal administrative law judge.

Judge Steve Sterner ruled that New England electricity companies, including National Grid and Eversource, have been charging their customers too much for past investments in the region’s transmission infrastructure. The judge said the companies should refund customers in Massachusetts a total of $106 million.

The decision must be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and would likely result in a reduction on customers’ future bills, not a cash refund. A similar ruling in 2014 led to a refund of $78 million for customers across New England.

The ruling is related to a part of electricity bills called the transmission charge that covers the cost of sending electricity over high-voltage lines running from power plants to electric substations, where it moves along a distribution system of local power lines and into individual homes. Electricity companies had been allowed to make a profit of 10.57 percent of their investment in the system, but Sterner ruled that the profit rate should have been 9.59 percent for the period from January 2013 to April 2014, which would have saved customers across New England $234 million.

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That 10.37% profit is the reason Gov. Charlie is NOT interested in renewable energy.

[MADem]

1. Damn, no shit! My electric bill has been through the ROOF.

And I'm sitting in the dark most days--my exterior lighting relies heavily on solar spotlights.